The Journey: Sanshlian Series

By Dani Hoots

Now it is time to figure out who I really am.

A year has passed since we were all on Sanshli. My idiot brother decided to pull out the sword and now we were stuck in the past, all in new bodies. Like my life wasn't complicated enough.

But now it was going to get even more complicated.

Time was running out and I had to finish my mission: destroy Nygard once and for all. I knew I would be on my own for this one, as I was the only one who I could trust. And there was always Jack, but I still didn't know where he was. Hopefully it would all make sense soon.

But what were the odds of that?

• Language: English
• Publisher: FoxTales Press
• Release date: May 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781942023470

Book preview

THE JOURNEY

Dani Hoots

The Journey

Sanshlian Series, #2

Second Publication © 2020 FoxTales Press

Content and line edits by Justin Boyer

Cover Design Copyright © 2020 by Biserka Designs

First Publication © 2017 Dani Hoots

Content and line edits by Justin Boyer of Bibliophile’s Workshop

Formatting by Dani Hoots

Cover Design Copyright © 2016 by Dani Hoots

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the author.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ISBN for paperback: 978-1-942023-46-3

ISBN for ebook: 978-1-942023-47-0

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What would you do with the dichotomous power over life and death? For Chrys, apparently, it was to stay cooped up in the Underworld all her life. She wishes she could leave and see what the human world is all about, but her Father would never allow it, as she was never supposed to be born. If Zeus found out, she would be sent straight to Tartarus. So she has stayed in Hades' palace all her life, her only friends being a punk whom she convinced her father was a genius tutor, and a demigod who she may or may not have almost kissed (father would be so mad if he found out).

After a huge fight with her mother Persephone, Chrys decides she can't take it anymore and has to travel to the human world, since her mother loves it so much more than she seems to care for her own husband. With her two best friends, Chrys travels through Oceanus and finds herself in London, England. Ready to experience what it was like to be human, Chrys decides they can stay for a couple of days before having to return.

Nothing could go wrong in that short of time, right?

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To Faye and Veronica, who stuck by my side throughout the entire process, and really, really want to read more.

Chapter 1

Everything froze. It was like a picture; one instant captured in all of time and space. Except for me, which was quite frustrating. I didn’t follow the rules, or laws that tied me down to this world. Heck, now that I knew the truth about who I was, I wasn’t bound by the laws of time anymore.

I was the daughter of Nygard, after all. A Sanshlian. An Illusionist. A being so powerful that no one could stop me.

At least, that is what the legend said. I honestly didn’t feel powerful. I felt the same as I always had been. I didn’t even know how to control my abilities the way that Nygard or Violet did. Not yet anyways.

As I looked around the room in the abandoned building, the room that held Nygard prisoner for so many centuries, I saw everyone. I saw Neil as he tried to summon Nygard back into the world, the generals as they held back David, Will, and my brother. Jack, standing next to me as I felt like my mind was about ready to explode. Voices entered my head, voices of all the Sanshlians that were killed in the war against Nygard. It was agonizing, as they all tried to reach out to me and get me to listen, their voices becoming louder and louder, overwhelming all my senses.

No wonder Neil said most who touch the door go insane. I felt as if I would break any minute, wanting to take Jack’s gun and end it right then and there.

That’s when it happened. Everything stood still, and I was the only one who could move—who could see what was going on. Time seemed to go nowhere when all the pieces were put into place. Everything made sense. The legend. The truth. The lies. Everything. The tale was finally completed, and I knew what I needed to do.

I needed to fulfill the prophecy. The one that was passed down among many generations; the one I would end. And that was what all the voices were telling me. That is what they wanted me to know.

The moment I realized that, the voices became quiet and only one was left—one that I knew would stay with me through the end. The one that was directing me, knowing exactly what I needed to do to end this all. I took a deep breath. I had to stop Neil and destroy Nygard once and for all.

There was no escaping my destiny now. I had to end this tale before it started again. And to do that, I didn’t need to take out the sword. I just needed to use the book. Taking the sword out would only cause more trouble. My father on Garvner had it all wrong when he told us those stories when we were little. It was the book that was the most powerful thing, something only an illusionist could handle.

Peering around for what felt like a suspended moment in time, I saw Neil as he made his way to the book. He knew the tale better than any of us, as his family had passed it down for many generations. He probably even knew where in the book to look for ways of reviving Nygard, as his own ancestors had fought alongside him.

But now I had the voice of guidance in my mind and I knew how to stop Neil from doing anything. There was one thing I wasn’t taking into consideration, and it was the fact he could read my mind. He would know what I was about to do.

Then I remembered: he didn’t want to snoop inside my head, not when he thought it was being taken over by all the ghosts of the Sanshlians that had passed away. I had the advantage.

The statue of Nygard stood in the middle, a sword through the chest, just as the legend dictated. It appeared old, bearing the signs of passing time. It didn’t hit me until then, but that was my father standing there, or at least my biological one. I would never truly know him, and he would only be a legend distorted through time.

Voices came back into my mind as I returned to reality, words that had been lingering in this place for so many years. They had been waiting for such a long time to have this legend fulfilled. They were eager to help; a little too eager. But of all the words, only one stood out from all the rest.

Hvas.

I peered around to find out what they meant, to what they were imploring me to do. That’s when I saw him, my brother, break out of Tom’s hold, and bolt towards the statue. I had to stop him.

No! I shouted as Rik ran towards the statue. If you do that, you will—

I jerked awake, sweating. I took a few breaths, peering around to realize I was in another standard quarters given to military personnel. Sighing, I realized it was just another dream of the last moments of my old life—the life I wished I could regain. I knew it was wrong to think such things, but I wanted to go back to being the Emperor’s Shadow, for all this to be some kind of dream. This legend was nonsense, and I didn't want to be troubled by it any longer. Then there was the matter of Jack…

I rubbed my face with my hand, trying to forget about it all, and was still surprised to see someone else’s hand as my own. Light milky skin, a contrast to my more olive skin in my past life. A year had passed since Rik pulled the sword out of the statue and it still was surprised me to see this person’s skin instead of my own, although I had regained my real body before my idiot brother pulled out the sword. So I guess I wished I had just killed him the moment he stepped into the Imperial Palace. Then my life would have stayed less complicated: I would have remained in my old body, I would have never found out I was an Illusionist of the Sanshlians, I would still kill people that disturbed the peace of the Empire. I would still be with Jack.

No, instead I was still in my quarters, thrown back into the past during the start of the uprising for the eventual creation of Pandronan Empire. And where in the universe was my quarters? Oh, that’s right. On Valle, the Capital of the Second Republic. I was in the government that existed before the Pandroran Empire of the future. We were sent back in time exactly where my brother wanted to be.

Speaking of my brother, the universe knew I hated him. If he would have just listened, then none of this would have happened. A year had already gone by and I was still at a loss in what I needed to do to get back to Sanshli to defeat Nygard once and for all. Instead, I was stuck in this place where I least wanted to be. If I could have just gotten my hands on the book on Sanshli, none of this would have needed to happen.

Because I would have reversed time from the moment Nygard was frozen in stone.

That way Nygard’s followers would have nothing to search for, and there would have never been a Pandronan Empire. The Second Republic would have ruled for many more millennia.

But no, my brother had to screw it all up by taking the sword out of the statue’s hold. But I guess it wasn’t his entirely his fault Father had told the story wrong. Father had believed that taking out the sword would defeat Nygard. No, it would only release him, and anyone who pulled it out would get their wish granted. And I guess Rik’s wish was to be sent back into time to destroy the Empire from ever gaining any control. Made sense, since he blamed the death of Father and his wife on the Empire.

And why would the sword grant any wish? Because Violet couldn’t finish defeating Nygard with the book, because she had used most of her power to encase him in the stone and keep him safely resigned to Sanshili. The rest of her energy was expended, of course, in sending me into the far future where this entire ordeal began. So it wasn’t the sword in fact that granted the wish then, but Nygard himself being freed. So it was up to me to defeat him and Violet orchestrated everything to line up in the right sequence for that to happen. I could have called upon lost spirits to help me. That was what the voices were for. They were trying to help me. I only figured it out too late. From there, I had to start from scratch, and I would figure it out in the end. Just as I always have.

If everything had gone smoothly, I should have just been able to go straight back to Sanshli, and reverse all this. Well, I couldn’t because when I tried to search for it with a telescope, it was gone. It was hidden with magic so it didn’t exactly follow physics like we knew it. David had helped me with the search and he had no answer as to how that was possible either. So the search for Sanshli begins anew.

Standing up and stretching, I pulled my blonde hair back with a ribbon. I was still in Myra’s body, which I guess was really my own. It was still difficult to fathom one of the least weird things to happen after the event. It was strange to think my old body had not been my own, but a decoy. I was never truly Arcadia this entire time, she was just some made up person used to hide my existence from Nygard. My father knew that on Garvner, but he had always treated me like his daughter. I wondered what life would have been like if he was still alive, if he hadn’t been killed. Would he have told me the truth? Would he have explained everything that was going on in time? Whatever, I would make do with what I had. There was no point of thinking about hypothetical situations.

Looking back down at my hands, I frowned. I still had that damn mark on my wrist from the Kamps. How, I’m still not entirely sure. Probably to remind me of what I was fighting for. Freedom. Either way, I still covered my hands with gloves. It was the only thing I could do to cope with all that had happened. It was the only way I could forget all the blood that I had shed.

I changed into my uniform, a star and crossed swords embroidered on the sleeves. It was something I laughed at every time I put it on. Here I was wearing the symbol of the Second Republic. Ironic, as I had fought so hard against those who tried to bring back the Republic, killing so many. But now I had to serve as one of them. Had to was the key word there, I never wore this symbol. I just woke up here, under the Second Republic’s flag. It wasn’t like I could run away either. Zipping up my jacket, I headed to work.

Venturing down the corridors, I made my way through the Capitol Building on Valle. It was still weird to think I was here and not in the New Capital’s Palace on Anosira. I felt as if someone would shoot me at any second, but none of them knew the truth, and how could they? I didn’t exist for another two hundred years. I hadn’t killed all those men yet—the Pandronan Empire hadn’t even gained control. The Second Republic reigned now.

As I put my hand on the control panel to open the sliding door, I took a deep breath and concentrated. Now that I learned I was an Illusionist, I knew that I had some types of powers. If I concentrated, I could hear what the walls were saying. It was weird, and they told me that there were people around, where the computers were located, and what the weather was like outside. All I wanted to do was make sure a certain someone was in the room before I entered.

And he was.

I entered the control room. Screens posted all the whereabouts of different military forces, mostly battling minor terrorist groups, rebellions, that sort of thing. The Empire was just starting to come into formation, in the form of a loosely organized enemy faction, so I wouldn’t quite consider it the beginning of a full-fledged war yet. My brother assigned me to watch over things, making sure they went by smoothly. He didn’t trust me on the front-end of war strategy, or on my own. I told him I’m better in the field, I could get a lot done on my own but he didn’t care. He still didn’t believe in me. I wondered why.

A shaggy brown-haired gentleman, the man I made sure was in there, already stood over the officer manning the screens, making sure they were doing their job. If there was anything wrong, then the men examining the screens came running to us and we dealt with the problem. I hated the job, there was a lot of sitting around required, but there wasn’t anything else I could do. Not with the way they treated me. They still saw me as a threat and regarded me as a prisoner. Though, I couldn’t blame them, now could I? I had betrayed them, was setting them up to all be slaughtered. I wouldn’t trust myself either.

The man glanced over with his sweet green eyes that always seemed honest enough. His rugged face made him even more handsome, but I would never let him know that. David would take it too much as a compliment than just a statement, even though it wasn’t his actual body. It was Lance Greel's, one of the head generals for the Republic before the fall. I wasn’t the only one having to get used to a new body. It made me feel a little better about everything. Just a little.

When we were thrown back into the past, I found that my brother, David, and Will all had new bodies, their mind or soul being thrown into the bodies of those who played a key role in the Second Republic at the start of the war. Where Jack, Neil, and the generals were, I had no idea. I presumed they were on Anosira, but I wasn’t allowed to go search for them, as my brother didn’t trust me farther than he could spit. As for Jack, I didn’t know where he could be, or if he was even thrown in the past along with us.

So yeah, I was stuck with Rik, David, and Will. Luck was always on my side.

Though, out of everyone here, David, who was now Lance, was the only one I trusted would tell me the truth. We would play games with each other, the mental kind, as I was too sick of card games still. We would battle verbally, never letting a lie escape our mouths, yet played with words to make the truth stay hidden. It was almost like jesting, in a way. An understanding that we each had about the other. No one else here trusted me, and deep down, Lance (David) didn’t trust me either. But he wanted to, and that is what I knew I could use in this time of disorientation. As long as I kept that part of him in my favor, I could escape here one day, if need be.

And I presumed that day would be sooner rather than later.

Because let’s be honest, I couldn’t stay here. I needed to figure out where Sanshli had gone, and put an end to this madness, and only I could do that. My brother didn’t let me work on that, so I had to get away from him and finish this journey once and for all. I couldn’t keep living this life. And I had a feeling people around me could detect my anxiousness, so it was to my benefit to act before they tightened the leash around my throat.

Myra. Lance noticed as I stepped inside the room, a look of surprise was apparent on his face. His eyes were gigantic and shifting towards the screens as if looking for something. It’s not your shift yet.

We decided it would be best to use our new names, not to arouse suspicion from those who lived during this time, not that it would matter what they called me. I didn’t belong in this time, and neither did I belong in the future. I belonged centuries earlier, not that it mattered. It just made me feel as if I didn’t belong anywhere. But I went by my real name and so did everyone else. It took a while for everyone to get used to, but no one even noticed the changes in personality, which we were thankful for.

I woke early and decided to put my time to use. And I hated being left out in fear that my brother would do something stupid again.

Lance stepped closer, out of hearing of the soldiers, and whispered. Dreams again?

I watched as he studied me, worrying about the nightmares I had been experiencing for such a long time. It was silly, really, as my nightmares were never a problem for me. I learned to live with them, just as I learned to live with everything that has happened to me. I couldn’t help it, I wanted to survive and to do that I moved past everything in time, of course with much effort spent. But Lance was different, he tried to care, one of the first people to do such a thing. He made it clear why he cared, and I clarified that Jack was the only person for me. But he still treated me with kindness. He could never take a hint.

Don’t worry about it, I replied.

He sighed, then turned back to the screens. I think you should go back and rest. Maybe do some training or something.

Lance usually liked it when I came early, then he got to spend more time with me. It was no joke, he actually told me that once. I didn’t respond. Although between him, my brother, and Will, I could tolerate spending time with David. However, I still didn't like it. I would never tell him that, it would crush his little heart. So him telling me I should leave only brought up more suspicion. Something was going on that I wasn’t meant to see.

You want me to leave? Why? I questioned, keeping my eyes on his averted gaze. My brother had